Hirano triumphs in superpipe at Winter X Games

OSLO – Ayumu Hirano became the first Japanese gold medalist at the Winter X Games on Friday when he cruised to victory in the men’s snowboard superpipe final.

The 17-year-old Hirano, a halfpipe silver medalist at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, was the only finalist to earn more than 90 points, scoring 92.33 in the first run and 94.66 in the second run in the five-day event at the Norwegian capital.

Hirano won silver in the same discipline at the X Games in Aspen, Colorado, in 2013 when he was 14 years old.